Bred almost 50 years ago, the Mashenka strawberry variety, often called the Moscow Jubilee, is still very popular among Russian gardeners, due to the excellent taste and classic aroma of berries, their large size and a fairly high resistance of the crop to traditional diseases.
The features of growing this magnificent garden berry will be discussed in the article.
Strawberry Mashenka: grade description
The favorite of Russian gardeners Mashenka has several advantages, one of which is that first-order fruits are very impressive in size due to the adjacent connection of several flowers and the development of one joint fruit. That is why the weight of the first berries can reach 100 grams. Further fruits are already more modest in size, but their weight of 30-40 grams is the norm for a crop such as Strawberry Mashenka. Reviews of fans cultivating this variety confirm that it practically does not form small fruits.
The bush is powerful, medium spread, but quite compact, since strong cuttings with leaves surrounding the core stand almost at right angles from the ground. The leaves are large bright green. Strawberry Mashenka, the photo of which is presented, is intended for garden cultivation and is not grown at home. The berries have a comb-like shape, slightly flattened from above and below, and the excellent burgundy-scarlet color of ripened fruits increases their high marketability.
The strawberry variety Mashenka has several other obvious advantages, among which they emphasize the good transportability possible due to the dense pulp of berries. In addition, the excellent yield of this early-ripening variety, the ability to reproduce quickly and resist diseases are the best recommendations of the culture, supporting its high rating.
The disadvantage is that the strawberry Mashenka is very sensitive to low temperatures and exposure to scorching sunlight, which is manifested by the appearance of dark burn spots on the leaves.
Soil preparation
A characteristic of the variety is intolerance to low temperatures, so the most acceptable time for planting young plants is May or August. Large-fruited fertility decreases every year, and so that the crops do not disappear over time, you need to plant strawberries on well-prepared soil, and then properly feed the plants and care for the garden where Mashenka's strawberries are planted. Reviews of gardeners are unanimous in determining: with proper care, crushing of berries is not observed.
2 weeks before planting, prepare the soil. First of all, insecticides are treated from beetle larvae. Then they form a garden bed, dig up the earth, adding 10-15 kg of humus and 5 kg of sand for each square meter, since Mashenka's strawberries develop better and yield crops on light, breathable soils. Usually, crops are planted in rows on ridges, the distance between which is not less than 0.5-0.6 m. Experienced gardeners often use aisles for planting garlic. These two plants coexist perfectly, in addition, garlic repels pests, which greatly facilitates the life of strawberries.
How to get healthy planting material
Seedlings should be bought in specialized stores or nurseries, from suppliers with a good reputation. You should not contact market traders offering inexpensive but unverified goods, since no one can guarantee the purity of the variety or at least the health of the seedlings.
If strawberry Mashenka is already growing on your plantation and you want to multiply or rejuvenate the plantings, it is necessary to carry out the so-called clone selection. This is done to improve the quality of planted bushes and increase their productivity. To fruiting bushes, you should carefully look and determine the most productive specimens (they should have more berries than mustaches), from which they subsequently take the first outlet from each strong mustache. The bush intended for clone selection should be healthy and not have the slightest sign of any damage. Marked rosettes are slightly podkuchivaet for better rooting, and the continuation of the shoot-mustache is cut off. After a couple of weeks, they turn into a full-fledged planting material.
Strawberry Mashenka: growing from seeds
Seed propagation is considered the most laborious way. But it is he who guarantees the receipt of healthy and high-quality plants with all varietal characteristics. Strawberry seeds are very small. They are sown in seedlings in early spring in the prepared soil, consisting of equal parts of garden soil, peat and vermiculite, moisten the plantings and cover with a film. The containers are installed in a bright place and maintain a constant room temperature. Seeds germinate after 8-12 days, but it is better to remove the film coating after the plants are slightly stronger and grow. Seedlings are ready for independent life in the open field, when they grow up to 10-12 cm and will have 5-7 true leaves. Seedlings are planted on the beds in June-July.
Landing
Prepared shallow wells (10-12 cm) are well shed with water. Separated rooted rosettes-seedlings, separated from the mother bushes and dug, are located in the holes so that the roots do not bend upward, and the growth bud-core is on the soil surface. Plants carefully close up, compact the soil around the bush and water again. This is important for the speedy plant survival in a permanent place. In addition, generous watering excludes the possibility of formation of air voids near the roots .
A cloudy, non-hot day is most suitable for planting. The interval between the bushes should be maintained within 45-50 cm.
Care
Strawberry Mashenka, the description of which is presented in the article, is characterized by good survival rate and high adaptive qualities to weather conditions. In addition, this variety is very unpretentious, and the implementation of certain agrotechnical rules will help increase the yield. It should be remembered that:
- it is better to water plants in the morning;
- periodically exposed roots of bushes must be sprinkled with earth;
- remove weeds and formed mustache (if plantation increase is not planned);
- carry out regular loosening of the soil, which helps to increase aeration and oxygen access to the roots.
How to care after harvest
After the crop is harvested, Mashenka activates the laying of flower buds for the next season. And the volume of fruit formation depends on how productive the care of her during this period will be.
Pruning old leaves is the very first event after harvesting, since diseases and pests that are definitely present on them will switch to young foliage that appears in the second wave of green mass buildup. Remove old leaves carefully, without damaging the central hearts of the bush and young leaves. At the same time, the soil is thoroughly loosened, hilling bushes.
Then the plants are fed with any complete mineral fertilizer with trace elements (20-30 g / 1 m 2 ). Strawberries should be moderately moistened until the end of the season. These simple manipulations will increase the yield of future seasons.
The article depicts the culture of Strawberry Mashenka. The description of the variety gives an idea of the plant, its characteristics and advantages.